Program Operations Manual System (POMS)

DI 43510.005 Medical Development - Assisting the Claimant

The claimant has the primary responsibility for furnishing complete information about medical sources that have treated the disabling condition and appearing for a consultative examination (CE) when requested to do so. The claimant may request the evidence from the treating source. If the disabled individual is unable to obtain medical evidence of record, the examiner will use the SSA-5526-U3 to request the resident district office (DO) to contact a domestic source, or use the SSA-423-U6 to request the FSP to contact a foreign source. The resident DO or FSP should inform the claimant that SSA will pay necessary expenses for medical evidence. SSA will not pay for the examination upon which the Medical Evidence of Record (MER) is based. (See DI 22500.000 for DDS procedures.)